November

Blog Posts in November, 2011

Police are searching for a man who allegedly smashed the window of a county bus earlier this month in Lauderdale Lakes. The Broward Sheriff’s Office said a bus picked up a man wearing a Santa hat and a red Adidas sweat suit with white stripes just before noon Nov. 18 near Northwest 16th Street and U.S. 441. The bus driver asked the man in the Santa hat and his friend to stop using profanity, but ...

A Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge sentenced a young man accused of stabbing a classmate to death at Coral Gables High School during a fight. This tragic story began making headlines back in 2009 when the incident occurred. After being found guilty of second degree murder at trial, the young man was sentenced to 40 years in prison followed by 10 years probation . While the prosecution asked for ...

Did you know that you may still be eligible to seal or expunge one of your arrest records, even if you have been arrested more than once? In order to expunge your record, the case must have been dismissed. That means that charges were dropped. You may also expunge a record that has been sealed for at least 10 years. In order to seal your record, you must have received a withhold of adjudication to ...

Drug trafficking is one of the most misunderstood crimes in the State of Florida. It is also one of the most serious. People assume that if they are not selling, intending to sell, or transporting large quantities of drugs across state lines then they are not trafficking. This is an incorrect assumption. While some state trafficking laws may require proof that the accused was going to sell or ...

The Palmetto Expresway, State Road 826, was closed for hours late Friday night in Medley after police say an enraged driver pulled a gun on one driver and crashed into two cars. The incident began in Pinecrest. Police say the accused began to fight with a woman with two children in her car shortly after 8 p.m. Other drivers stopped and got involved in the arguement, and the accused pulled a gun on ...

South Florida police will be out in full force during Thanksgiving weekend. Miami-Dade Police are calling themselves the "Grinch Busters" for the next several weeks. Police said they are keeping an eye out on people who are unaware of their surroundings. Authorities are monitoring people carrying lots of shopping bags to their cars and then heading back inside the stores to shop. Authorities said ...

The Florida Highway Patrol said Tuesday it will heightened its presence starting Wednesday and extending through Sunday. All state troopers will patrol the state’s high-volume roadways during the five-day period. Auxiliary and reserve troopers will volunteer to augment the effort. Troopers will focus their enforcement in stopping impaired drivers, speeders and those who follow too closely or ...

Police in Miami-Dade County are warning of thieves who distract elderly residents and then steal pricey jewelry from their homes. During the crimes, a person posing as a utility worker, an exterminator, a landscaper or a construction worker knocks on a door, usually at the home of an elderly person, and convinces the resident to go outside to look at a fictional issue. While the resident is ...

An illegal slaughterhouse in Hialeah has been raided, according to NBC Miami . The Hialeah Police Department arrested the suspected operator of the slaughterhouse. He is charged with three counts of animal cruelty , one count of using a firearm during the commission of a felony, 40 counts of animal confinement, and three counts of conspiracy to commit these felonies. The Miami-Dade State ...

In recent months, I have discussed how challenges have been raised regarding Florida Statutes Section 893 , which makes possession of controlled substances illegal. The problem with 893 is that the law does not require the prosecution to prove that the accused knew they were in possession of an illegal substance. The prosecution need only prove that the accused was in possession of a substance, ...

Local 10 reports that a Broward County jury returned its verdict Wednesday morning in the trial of suspended Deerfield Beach Commissioner Sylvia Poitier. Poitier, 76, was convicted of four charges of falsifying public records. The allegations against her regarded a vote to give city tax dollars to a nonprofit housing group that also would have financially benefited her brother. She had only been ...

Miami-Dade is seventh on the top ten list of street gang members by county in the United States, according to statistics released by the FBI. A total of 16,646 street gang members reside in Miami-Dade, as do 38 motorcycle gang members, according to the 2010 estimates, compiled from data from National Drug Intelligence Center and National Gang Intelligence Center. The total doesn't include prison ...

The New York Times reports that the United States Sentencing Commission, in its 645-page report, has concluded that federal mandatory minimum sentences are often “excessively severe,” not “narrowly tailored to apply only to those offenders who warrant such punishment,” and not “applied consistently.” That is especially so for sentences of people convicted of drug-trafficking offenses , who make up ...

I hate to make light of a tragic situation, but many South Florida news outlets are reporting that one Lauderhill cop fired shots - yes, as in bullets from a gun - at a fellow Lauderhill cop. Only in South Florida... A Lauderhill police officer shot at another officer, but missed, said police. The Sun Sentinel is reporting that the alleged shooting occurred in the 5600 block of West Oakland Park ...

Drug Court is not for everyone. Keep that in mind before you commit to it, because after all - it is a commitment. Florida statutes permits court-supervised treatment programs for those charged with non-violent, non-sale, non-trafficking drug possession offenses. For those charged with drug possession (such as possession of cocaine ) who truly need the counseling and the intervention in order to ...

My favorite Homer Simpson quote of all time is, "To alcohol! The cause of...and solution to...all of life's problems." In the context of criminal law, only part of that statement is true. Florida law has enacted several laws that deal primarily with alcohol. These laws generally regulate the time, place, and manner in which people can consume alcohol. The most obvious alcohol-related offenses are ...

A 22-year old Miami Gardens pizza delivery man is accusing a former co-worker of robbing him at gunpoint. The accused, a 25-year old former employee of the pizza restaurant where the alleged victim worked, has been charged with armed robbery with a firearm . It is alleged that the accused order a pizza from her former employer. Upon delivery, the accused is charged with aiming a gun at the ...

Okay...you can't have a criminal law blog and not comment on the recent guilty verdict in the involuntary manslaughter case of Dr. Conrad Murray. For those of you who are not familiar with this case, Dr. Conrad Murray was Michael Jackson's private doctor who treated the late pop star for insomnia using lethal drugs. Dr. Murray was charged with involuntary manslaughter, which does not really exist ...

A Marathon woman is behind bars Tuesday after authorities say she cut a baby with a knife during a fight over a couple slices of bread. According to the Monroe County Sheriff's Office, deputies responded to an apartment where a 2-month old baby had received a small cut to her forehead. Police have arrested an 18-year old neighbor in connection with the alleged attack. According to witnesses, the ...

A 21-year-old University of Miami student was arrested on Sunday and accused of inappropriately touching several students inside their dorm rooms, according to Coral Gables police. The accused, a student from China, was booked Sunday into Miami-Dade's Pre-Trial Detention Center and charged with two counts of burglary with an assault or battery (burg/batt). He was held without bond because burglary ...

Sounds like something out of a bad spy movie... The Pembroke Pines Police Department reported that they are going undercover to catch crooks, and they are doing it with disguises. Specifically targeting burglary suspects, the new unit called the Burglary Suppression Team is part of a state-wide effort to stop burglaries caused by the economy. Police will be dressed as landscapers, mail carriers ...

Representatives from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, the FBI and the Broward State Attorney's Office were conducting a news conference late Friday morning following the arrests of two Fort Lauderdale officers who are accused of stealing drugs and cash from pain clinic customers. Two Fort Lauderdale detectives allegedly made traffic stops with and without probable cause in order to search ...

I have discussed crimes against law enforcement officers before. Those are offenses that State Attorneys' Offices take very seriously. That's because there is a very close relationship between the police and the prosecutors. In other words, the prosecutors will "take care of their own" when it comes to officer victims. A crime against a law enforcement officer (LEO) can be as simple as resisting ...

The Broward Sheriff's Office is looking for a man who was allegedly caught on surveillance video trying to snatch money out of the register at a Cooper City Subway. According to Local 10 , a man came into the store and ordered a sandwich. When the register drawer was opened by the cashier, the suspect allegedly reached over the counter and into the cash register. The suspect allegedly struggled ...

A bond is an amount of money set by the court, per count (charge), to ensure that the accused appears in court. There are types of non-monetary bonds (such as ROR or Pretrial Services), but for purposes of this entry, let's assume that your bond is just a standard monetary bond. When you are arrested and taken to jail, the judge will most likely impose a bond. The bond may be standard, or higher ...